Is Your Mouse Sticky?

Most computer mice now are the optical type, that is they have a red (usually) light shining out of the bottom of them and the reflection of that light is what determines the movement of the cursor.

The older type have a ball in them. Over time, the ball type mice will accumulate dust and dirt on the insides that can cause your cursor to skip or jump which makes using your computer a pain.

If you have a ball type mouse, turn it upside down and you should see that the hole where the ball protrudes is actually in a small plate which when rotated will come away from the mouse body allowing you to get out the dirt and gunk.

So, to clean your mouse, first remove the plate, then remove the mouse ball. Examine the insides and you should see that there are three things which come into contact with the ball under normal conditions. There will be two straight rods at 90 degrees to each other which control the cursor movement and then a small spring loaded wheel to keep pressure on the rods. These three items are what need cleaning in most cases.

If you look at the rods you may see what looks like a stripe around the middle of them, this is dirt and needs to be carefully removed. Use a small screwdriver or similar item to carefully scrape the dirt away, DO NOT NICK OR DAMAGE THE ROD. Carefully rotate the rod and make sure you get all the dirt off. Repeat for the other rod and the pressure wheel. Now just wipe off the mouse ball, reassemble and you should be done.

If that doesn’t do it, you can always get yourself an optical mouse which are not as prone to dust and dirt collection.